


Even If [Levi Ackerman x Crane Spirit!Reader]

by Alyss_Baskerville



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, crane!reader, this is based off a japanese legend, this takes place in ancient japan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 07:32:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16593563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alyss_Baskerville/pseuds/Alyss_Baskerville
Summary: "...Would you still love me?"





	Even If [Levi Ackerman x Crane Spirit!Reader]

**Author's Note:**

> You may or may not be familiar with the Japanese legend of a crane that takes the form of a beautiful young woman (or something to that effect, I'm not sure how it goes exactly). Well, in this story, Reader is, yes, a crane spirit with a human form.
> 
> This also takes place in ancient Japan, where they wore kimonos and yukatas and...well, you get the idea. Keep that in mind.

"It's snowing..." [Name] murmured to her husband, sitting behind her with his arms around her tenderly. She felt him smile as he replied, "It snowed the day we met too, brat." 

"I remember." the young woman giggled, leaning her head against Levi's chest. It was cold outside - the frigid winter winds howled, and the walls of their small hut could barely keep out the chill. Thankfully, the couple was seated in front of a fire that kept them warm, for the most part. And of course, Levi's arms around her brought [Name] a feeling of tenderness about her. 

She was as happy as she could ever be, married to the man she loved.

_If only my original form wasn't that of a crane spirit..._ [Name] thought wistfully.  _Then everything would be perfect. I would have absolutely no worries._

Levi didn't know, as [Name] had made sure to keep it a secret, but they had encountered each other when they were in their teenage years. At least, Levi had been a teenager. [Name], however, she wasn't human. She was a crane spirit with the ability to shapeshift into a human. On that fateful day, she had been caught in a hunter's trap and had been desperately floundering to escape, but her attempts had not been graced with success.

Just as she had decided she was doomed, a young man, about seventeen years old, with black hair and gray eyes, had happened to pass the desperately struggling [Name]. That young man, was, of course, none other than Levi. He had sympathized with her helpless position and had released the trap, setting [Name] free and allowing her to soar away into the sky.

What [Name] didn't know, however, was that as she had flown away, those gray eyes had watched her with wonder, awestruck at the bird's graceful, beauteous flight. 

_If Levi knew what I really was...how would he react?_

~~~~

The sweet spring breeze stirred [Name]'s hair, tied messily back in a bun [if your hair is short, ignore that part], and she smiled at the sensation. Closing her [eye color] hues, the young woman sighed with contentment as the birds chirped and tweeted, signaling the end of the bleak, harsh winter, and the start of the beautiful, pleasant spring.

Unable the resist the temptation, [Name] opened her mouth and sang in harmony with the songbirds. Her melodic voice wafted through the air, perfectly in synchronization with the birds. Sitting behind her, Levi chuckled unexpectedly. "You have a beautiful voice." he told her, the words filled with tenderness.

Shocked, [Name] turned back around to glance at him. His face was set in a kind smile, one that was rarely experienced by anyone besides his wife. 

_I'm so simple..._ [Name] mused inwardly as she beamed back at Levi, unable to hold it back. It was as if her muscles moved of their own accord.  _Just those words alone from him make me feel so happy..._

Taking a seat next to him on their wooden porch, [Name] looked tentatively at Levi. "Levi..."

"What is it, brat?"

"If one day in the future, I no longer had this beautiful voice of mine, would you still love me?"

There was a moment of peaceful silence, of just the sonata of spring ringing in the two's ears, before Levi responded. "What a shitty question, [Name]. Do I even need to answer that? Of course I would still love you." he assured her, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. 

~~~~

[Name] hummed quietly to herself as she planted the grain seeds in the ground, placing them down carefully one by one and burying each one with equal caution. These crops were, for all intents and purposes, what kept Levi and herself alive. They were a poor couple and their livelihood produced just enough to survive.

Even so, the two were happy, as long as they had each other. [Name], if given the choice, would rather live in less-than-desirable conditions such as these and have the love of her life by her side for life, rather than a lifestyle of luxury and comfort that entailed that she would never meet Levi. She loved him more than life itself, and would never trade him for anything in the world.

She was dimly aware of Levi coughing somewhere behind her, but the young woman was too focused on her farm work to view his wheezing as a cause for concern. [Name] had just finished planting the final seed when she finally realized how violent Levi's coughing was. Worried, she turned around to ask if he was alright, just in time to see him collapse to his knees, his hand to his mouth, body heaving violently. As he brought his hand away from his mouth, panting, [Name] caught a glimpse of crimson red stained on it. 

Blood.

Now fully alarmed, [Name] ran over to her husband, her gardening completely forgotten. "Levi!" she cried. "Are you alright?"

Her husband didn't respond. He had burst into another fit of coughing. Taking his hand, [Name] struggled to help him stand, supporting his small frame with his arm over her shoulders. "You have to lay down." she ordered, staggering towards their hut, Levi in tow. He didn't appear particularly heavy, but her husband had rock-sturdy, strong muscles and her task proved a struggle.

Once [Name] had gotten Levi into his futon, she ensured that the blankets were securely around his form. Was it just her, or did he appear slightly more skinny? His breathing was at times heavy, and times shallow, and his eyes, once so sharp and poignant, began to turn dull and unfocused. 

As days went by, [Name]'s worry for her husband increased as well. He was not getting better - in fact, his condition was becoming progressively worse. It got to the point where Levi could no longer work and thus, all manual labor was left to [Name], the task of keeping their meager flow of income from stopping resting entirely on her shoulders. It was impossible to maintain stability, and their quality of life, already poor, dropped several more degrees.

"It's pneumonia." the doctor told [Name], almost a month after Levi had first collapsed.

With that, the world had fallen away beneath the young woman's feet.

Pneumonia.

_Pneumonia._

There was no way, no chance in Heaven or Hell, that they would be able to afford medicine to treat such an infection at this rate.  _I have to do something,_ [Name] reflected as she sat on the porch she and Levi had once shared, watching the autumn leaves flutter to the ground in brilliant flourishes of red, orange, and yellow.

She would not,  _could not,_ allow Levi's life to spiral down onto the ground like those leaves.

The day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that, [Name] did nothing but weave at the loom she'd received from Levi as a wedding gift. The only exceptions were when she brought her husband food or drink, and each of these visits caused her heart to weight heavy with worry.

He was skinny.

Pale.

_Weak,_ a word she never would have thought she'd describe him with.

She'd sit at the device, using her own feathers from her crane form to weave clothes. These she would sell in the village, desperately hoping, praying, that one day it would all accumulate to enough money in order to purchase the medicine that Levi needed.

He needed it, or he would die. 

It was no surprise to [Name] as she gazed at her now scarred fingers. The slender digits were coated in scratches, some fresh and oozing, while others were stale and crusty. It was not a pleasant sight to behold, not to mention painful for the young woman, but she refused to let the sharp pricks dissuade her.

The medicine.

She needed that medicine.

_Levi_ needed that medicine.

[Name] opened the door to the small room that she and Levi shared, withering inwardly as she once again behold the state of her dear husband. He was laying on the futon, eyes closed, breathing shallow. For the past few months since he'd gotten sick, his cheekbones had been growing increasingly pronounced due to starvation, the sallow skin stretching tightly over his face, casting haunting shadows across his once so healthy visage.

As she knelt next to him, holding a bowl of water, [Name] feared for a moment that he was dead, that he'd stopped breathing, as she could no longer hear her husband wheezing. A second later, however, she nearly collapsed from relief when Levi stirred, hacked slightly, and opened his now dull gray eyes. They were unfocused and took a few seconds to sharpen and hone in on her face.

"[Name]." his voice rasped.

"I have some water for you." [Name] replied, desperately trying to hold her composure together at the seams. Levi feebly sat up, face showing gratitude, and [Name] guided the bowl to his lips, letting him take a sip, which was all his body could handle. Before she could withdraw her hand, however, he gripped it with his own cold one, studying her marred fingers. [Name] winced. How horrendous they must look to him.

"You..." Levi murmured, tone hoarse. "...you have beautiful fingers, brat."

[Name] lowered her eyes to the floor. "Thank you, Levi. But if one day, I no longer had these beautiful fingers of mine...would you still love me, even then?"

"Of course." Levi reassured her, coughing, as he tightened his hold on her fingers. [Name] felt hot tears leak out of her eyes and she clenched her teeth together to prevent herself from sobbing. If Levi found out who she was... _what_  she was...

She wasn't human.

She was a crane spirit.

His fingers gripping her own were cold.

Too cold.

And if he found out, those fingers would leave hers altogether.

The icy air penetrated [Name]'s bones as she sat at the loom again, weaving. Her hair had fallen of its loose bun and strands of it were framing her tired, haggard face. Outside, sheets of white covered the ground, and snowflakes danced their yearly dance as they fluttered to the ground. 

[Name] was exhausted. Her fingers...

Her fingers were beginning to fail. She had increasing difficulty moving them as every day, filled with weaving, weaving, and yet more weaving, slipped by.

Like water, it was also Levi's life slipping away.

And her feathers were almost gone. They were almost spent. 

The moment her fingers stopped...

The instant her feathers ran out...

Levi was as good as dead.

But [Name] was nearly there. She was close, so close. Just a few more kimonos...just a few more yukatas...if she could sell those, she would have saved up enough to purchase the medicine required to heal Levi. To save his life.

It was a race against time.

_Please, don't stop yet...just a little longer...just a little bit longer...hold on...I'm almost done...I'm almost there....almost..._

Then the day came.

[Name] could barely move her fingers anymore. They were stiff as planks and when she tried to force them to cooperate, they absolutely refused, instead throbbing with intensity that she had never known before. 

With the pain rose a newfound insecurity that [Name] had kept buried, had kept at bay, for so long. 

She was a crane spirit.

Not a human.

Not the human woman Levi had married. Not the human woman that had appeared at his door all those years ago. Not the human woman that he had grown to care for. Not the human woman that he had developed deep feelings for. Not the human woman he had fallen in love with.

She was not who he thought she was.

Levi thought he loved a human called [Name].

What he did not know was the one he loved, this human woman, [Name], had never really existed.

She was not human.

If Levi ever found out...

[Name] stared dully at the small, light object laying in front of her. It fluttered with the slightest breeze, threatening to go sailing away with any force that disturbed it, even the slightest bit.

One last, white feather.

[Name]'s last feather. 

Her [eye color] eyes slipped closed, and [Name]'s mouth moved ever so slightly, forming the question that she had echoed in her head time and time again, but had never possessed the courage to speak out loud.

"If I was no longer human, even then...would you still love me?" 

There was no reply. Levi was not next to her. He was still in their bedroom, suffering. Inching closer and closer to death with every single moment. 

[Name] did not know the answer to her question.

She was afraid.

The truth remained untold.

Would Levi still love her, even knowing what she truly was?

[Name] couldn't ask him. She was too afraid. Too scared. Too weak to face the truth.

Alone, all alone, she reached for the last feather just as she felt movement behind her. 

A frail hand closed around her own mangled one gripping the white feather between her fingers. Something - or someone, made himself known against her back, wrapping his free arm around [Name]'s shoulder and resting his chin on it. "Of course I would." 

[Name] froze, the blood in her veins turning to ice. Levi's warm breath caressed her ear gently. "Did you think I wouldn't notice, brat?" he murmured against her skin, causing the young woman to shiver slightly. "I won't ever forget it." he continued softly. "The sight of you taking off into the sky."

_Is he...?_

[Name] searched her husband's voice for any kind of hate, any kind of shock, any kind of betrayal, any kind of scorn. There were none.

He knew.

He knew, and yet he...

"And even now, [Name], I still love you."

**Author's Note:**

> ...Everyone clap it up for my OOC Levi O_O
> 
> He is hard to portray in a romantic sense. I'm sure anyone who's ever written a Levi story will understand.
> 
> I hope you liked it regardless.
> 
> (Please like it uwu)


End file.
